Very First Home Theater

CrazyInside

Hello! I've always wanted a cool home theater setup but just never actually did it. So my gf got me a sony 7.1 STR-DH810 receiver. So after reading around a bit and with all the sales on the monitor speakers this is what I bought.

1 psw505 sub
1 cs20 center
4 monitor 70 series II

Now never using anything other than my tv speakers I have a few questions

First is the receiver she got me good enough to run those speakers?

What kind of cable do I need to hook this stuff up with?

Finally will this setup sound decent? I know it's not expensive like everyone says you should get but will it be okay for a new guy?

Thanks in advance!

danger boy

congrats on your system... that is the beginning of a ok system. more power is better for running a home theater. but lets work with your new system.

cables... it's best to use 14 guage speaker cable.. you don't really want to go anything smaller than that though.. the larger the number, the small/thinner the speaker wire/cable is.

cables.. since your Sony has HDMI.. hook up your blu ray player using a HDMI cable.. and then an HDMI cable to your TV too. THat will handle both audio and video.

then set up your speakers.. center should be above or below the TV. left and right should be on either side of the TV.. they don't have to be right next to the TV though.. space em out if you have the room.

Place the subwoofer on either side of one of the front speakers.. facing you.

put one rear speaker behind you to the left and right.. space them apart too.. farther apart than your front speakers for best sound.

hook everything up... then run the auto speaker set up in your Sony.. that will set the distance and delay for each speaker.

there are more advanced set up too.. your speakers should come with more detailed info and so should your Sony receiver.

CrazyInside

thanks for the reply! What is the best place to get the speaker wire? Online or just go to best buy or something? What gage should I need for the sub? And finally is the only way to get more power from a different receiver?

EndersShadow

CrazyInside wrote: »

thanks for the reply! What is the best place to get the speaker wire? Online or just go to best buy or something? What gage should I need for the sub? And finally is the only way to get more power from a different receiver?

Lots of us get our speaker wire at Monoprice.com. Its like 56 bucks for 300 feet of 14 gauge wire....not that you have to get 300 feet, but its nice to not worry about running out anytime soon

If you own a house and are planning on running it through the walls they also sell in wall rated wire, as well as good cheap speaker plates to connect the wires to...

CrazyInside

Okay so this is what I got in my cart, just wanted to make sure this is right before I order

100ft 14AWG Enhanced Loud Oxygen-Free Copper Speaker Wire Cable - x1

25ft Coaxial Audio/Video RCA Cable M/M RG59U 75ohm (for S/PDIF, Digital Coax, Subwoofer & Composite Video) - x1

1 PAIR OF High-Quality Copper Speaker Banana Plugs - Closed Screw Type [JX-74043] - x10

cnh

That looks fine. You have your speaker wire, sub cable and several pair of bananas for the wire! What about a couple of HDMI cables? You need at least two or more. One to the TV from the Sony AVR, one from the Blu-ray to the AVR, and then more for whatever other SOURCES you may have, i.e., HDTV BOX, PS3 or XBOX, etc?

cnh

vadang

I get my cables from monoprice as well and have never had any issues.

I think if this is your first theater, you will be happy, but you will get the itch to upgrade like most do and it will really never go away.

If you aren't happy with the sound on your first listen, don't be discouraged. Take the time to experiment. I have found that every time I run the auto cal stuff on my receiver, I always end up changing everything to the way it sounds better to me. Also experiment with placement.

Good luck!

larry777

Won't you need more Banana Plugs than 1 pair ? They can be used to plug into your speakers and Receiver if they have that option. That would be 10 pairs...2 for center speaker and 8 total for Monitor 70's.....OK,I see now where you added 10 at the end of your post. You could pick up another 4 pairs though for the price in case you go 7.1 down the road.